This invention relates adapter handles for wheelchairs and other wheeled devices and vehicles that are propelled by pushing against a handle, such as a baby carriage or stroller, and is more particularly concerned with a device that can link two (or more) wheelchairs together so that one attendant can move two or more wheelchair patients at the same time.
The invention is more specifically concerned with a clamp device in the nature of an adapter handle that can clamp to two or more such wheeled devices, where the wheeled devices have a pair of tubular handles that extend from above and behind the vehicle, so that the adapter handle can attach to one of the tubular handles of each of the two wheelchairs or other wheeled devices.
There is a need for a device that connects two wheelchairs together, for example, in a hospital or rest home, so that one attendant can move multiple patients at the same time, or can move two patients over some distance without having to leave one of them unattended while he or she moves the other one.
At the present time, there are clamps that are used for children""s strollers, in which the tubular frames of a pair of strollers are clamped together, for example, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,892 to Aaron et al. A number of wheelchair handle adapters have also been proposed, which connect between the two tubular handles of a given wheelchair so that the attendant can push from the center. Typical examples of wheelchair handle adapters are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,357 to Soderbaum, U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,648 to Berkowitz, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,427 to Bost. A tubular push bar handle that slips over the two tubular handles of a given wheelchair is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,055 to Treat, Jr. None of these suggests an effective means for joining the handles together of a pair of wheelchairs so that the attendant can safely move the two chairs, together with the associated patients.
Currently, for an attendant to bring any low mobility patient from one part of a medical care facility to another, the patient is placed in a wheelchair and has to be pushed individually to the distant part of the facility. If there is more than one patient to be moved, but only the one attendant, this can involve making multiple trips through the facility, and as a result one of the two patients has to be left unattended while the other is being wheeled to the new location. The only current technique used to moving two wheelchairs at once is to push one and pull the other, which can lead to falls or discomfort both for the patients and for the attendant.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a simple and straightforward wheelchair clamp device that facilitates joining two wheelchairs so that an attendant can move plural wheelchair patients at one time.
It is another object to provide a wheelchair clamp that is convenient to use and which securely grips onto the handles of the wheelchairs.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a wheelchair clamp device can be in the form of a generally U-shaped member in which the two ends of the U, i.e., the two end bars, fit into the handle tubes of the wheelchair, with one end bar in the left handle of one chair and the other end bar in the right handle of the other. A clamp bar or an equivalent means clamps down against the handle grips of the two chairs so that the device is firmly secured to the two chairs. In a preferred embodiment, the clamp member has a central bar that is midway between and parallel to the two end bars, so that the device in such case is generally E-shaped overall. The clamp bar lies against the handle grips of the two wheelchairs, and is tightened down onto the central bar using a hand wheel, with a threaded post in the wheel passing through a hole in the clamp bar and into a threaded opening in the central bar. The crossbar portion of the clamp device can be covered with a resilient plastic or hard-rubber coating for better gripping with the attendant""s hands. There are many other ways in which the end bars of the clamp device can grip securely onto the tubular handles of the wheelchairs, e.g., with individual clamps on the two end bars either gripping the interior of the handle tube or the outside of the handle grip. The crossbar is a straight member in the disclosed embodiment, but in other embodiments may be curved for better gripping or for other reasons.